Qualidade pós-colheita e atividade enzimática oxidativa de pitaia [Hylocereus costaricensis (Web.) Britton & Rose].

Abstract

Pitaya purple-red pulp has lush appearance and excellent commercial potential, but little is known of their oxidative metabolism. Thus, the objective was to study the postharvest quality and oxidative enzyme activity of fruit pitaya [Hylocereus costaricensis (Web.) Britton & Rose]. The fruits were harvested in a commercial orchard of PTLA farm, Chapada do Apodi, Limoeiro do Norte (CE), packed in plastic box and transported under air on vehicular conditioning, about 312 km, to the center of the Food Analysis Laboratory Science and Agrifood Technology, Federal University of Campina Grande, Campus de Pombal, where they were stored at 20 ± 2 ° C under 55 ± 5% RH. The experimental design was completely randomized with five times (0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 days) analysis, 5 replicates, each replicate containing one fruit. In this study, the pitaya fruit remained with physical, chemical and nutritional acceptable for fresh consumption, with emphasis on low levels of acidity, soluble solids, close to that observed for other species of the genus. It was found high amounts of phenolics, flavonoids and anthocyanins, indicative great for studying the antioxidant capacity of fruits in future studies; and the activity of enzymes PAL, PPO and POD directly involved in the oxidative metabolism of pitaya fruit can be linked to the high levels of flavonoids and anthocyanins.